PART ONE – Barcelona, Malaga and Gibraltar
Day 82 – 90
15th to 24th July
From Barcelona airport to accommodation in Corbera de Lobregat, Catalonia. The hotel Can Fisa is set high up in the mountains where the roads equal the coastline of Amalfi. Classed as Barcelona, it was 17 kilometres and 1 hour outside the main city.
It is always a surprise to see front doors opening onto the narrow streets. A lack of concentration could have you walking out the front door and into a bus as the buses almost touch both sides of the road.
Our room at Can Fisa hotel overlooked the mountains and the small villages tucked into each valley. In the evening, there was a sound of drums and the occasional gunfire that echoed around the mountains reverberating and growing louder until all was quiet at 5am. It was a village festival that is celebrated for 2 weekends in July but no one could tell us why.
The restaurant at the hotel was excellent but a bit out of our budget. The few nights we ate there, we were given a little morsel of tapas to try gratis. The Chef here did a great job.
The free, guided, Gaudi tour in Barcelona was great and well worth the 10 Euros per person that is a donation after the 21/2 hours. Our guide, Miguel was very knowledgeable regarding all things Gaudi.
Here are few fun facts: Gaudi’s first commission was for streetlamps in Barcelona however he argued his payment and was crossed off the list of available architects by the council and never worked for them again.
His work came from rich family commissions who he nearly sent broke paying for his perfectionism. He never explained his work and has left a lot of questions unanswered including: why do his chimneys look like ice-cream cones? He used only the best materials in his buildings so the outside of Casa Batlo was covered in Murano glass. Gaudi dressed as a poor man and his life ended when he was hit by a tram, while going to confess his sins at the age of 74. Because he looked like a pauper, he was taken to the poor hospital. Eventually, when he was recognised, he refused to be moved and died 2 days later.
All the statues in The Sagrada Familia were made from plaster casts of real people, even a donkey was cast after being put to sleep first (Gaudi was an animal lover). You don’t want to know how he made the lifelike babies in the Roman Centurion scene. The Sagrada Familia (the cathedral for the poor) is still a work in progress and it is said that if the huge spire, yet to be built, stays up it will be the third miracle and Gaudi will be classed as a Saint and the Basilica will become a Cathedral!
Another positive regarding a walking tour is that if the guides are good, they tell you about other things, like where to eat and what to do. Miguel told us about Carrier de Blai. A street full of Pinxos bars or Pinchos in English. They are fantastic little tapas on bread stuck together with a toothpick. All 1 Euro each with a big glass of beer at 2 Euros. Fantastic food. Four will do you for lunch.
Monserrat is a breathtakingly beautiful Benedictine monk, mountain retreat. It was Sunday so we experienced mass in the Basilica. The trip to Montserrat was by bus and train and then a smaller train travels up the side of the very steep mountain. So, the choir…. the choir is very well known and the Monastery choir boys have made over 100 recordings. So excited to see these young boys in their choir clothes and their beautiful voices ringing through the acoustically perfect Basilica.
The boys were on holidays! Replaced by a small group of female choristers from Italy. No uniform, all higgledy piggledy in their attire. The younger girls looked like they didn’t want to be there. As disappointing as scaffolding!
Oh well, walked to the Mirador de Sant Migual for a panoramic view and caught the cable car down to the train.
The Ramblas in Barcelona City, has changed a lot in 30 years. It is quite sophisticated now and is a pleasant walk to the harbour via the Boqueria market.
Another guided tour around the older areas included the Gothic sector and the Jewish area. These tours are so worthwhile as you learn so many interesting facts about places that you could miss if you didn’t know where to look. Barcelona is a stunning city. The Metro system is brilliant. A T10 metro ticket for 10 Euros allows 10 rides over an infinite period and can be used by more than one person at a time. You just go through the gates and pass the ticket to the person behind you. A very fair fare.
Fast train to Malaga
Philly and figs! A feast on the five – hour fast train to Malaga. We have done it again. Booked 6 nights here and it was quite pricey at $80 per night but it was a self – contained unit with a kitchen, washing machine, separate bedrooms etc and we wanted to enjoy Malaga for longer than our usual stays. Reckoned we would eat in, buy cheap wine and sit on the beach.
Arrived… no internet, no kettle or saucepans in the “fully decked out kitchen”, no air-conditioning – not even a fan. If the windows are open, so are the curtains and the flats across the road are about 5 metres away. Other than that, it is lovely and we are going to grow dreads and smoke weed.
Malaga is a great place. It is a mixture of young and trendy, cruise ship stopovers and us. The connection to Picasso is pushed here although he moved to Barcelona in his teens.
Malaga is really for the tourists with lots of hidden gems thrown in. A lovely cathedral, Roman Teatro and beautiful squares and cobblestone streets. The national dish, Paella is lovely and can range from 10 Euros onwards. Beers are cheap at 1 Euro each.
Gibraltar guided tour by bus. And again, here we go again! The bus was half hour late and picked up passengers all the way down the Costa del Sol. It’s hard to get our head around the beaches. They are beautifully decked out with sun chairs and umbrellas but they are average. Catering is great and the culture is to spend the whole day sunbathing, eating and drinking. Fantastic… but the beaches are still average.
Gibraltar, built on the rock and famous for its history especially its part in WWII. Visited the natural caves and the tunnels that were built by the British to protect their little piece of earth on the end of Spain. Barbary apes brought over from Morocco as watch dogs.
Gibraltar is duty free. The place is full of cashed up British tourists looking for a bargain. The shops are all British chains. Why would you buy English stuff if you were English? We found the prices of some non-British clothes were 5 pounds dearer than they were in Malaga. Gibraltar uses a Gibraltar pound and you don’t want to get stuck with these as they are useless and cannot be exchanged in any other country. The bus trip back to Malaga was supposed to be 2-3 hours but it was 5. It took 90 minutes for the bus to get through customs. Not us… the bus. All the belongings we took off the bus weren’t checked but the bus was. Can someone explain this?
Centre Pompidou Malaga. Ah the serenity!
Works from the greats: Picasso, Kahlo, Brancusi (a personal favourite) Leger, De Koonig and some really weird shit like large quantities of dead sparrows in knitted jumpers. Who is Annette Messager (1943 -)and why isn’t she in an asylum? No photos because they make you feel quite ill.
Mojitos are quite nice after an afternoon at the beach. Tapas is also good for 2 Euros a portion. 4 shared portions work for us and a jug of Sangria washes it down nicely. We need this little bit of self -medication to put up with our accommodation which is now under dispute.
So many weddings on a Saturday afternoon and so many pre-wedding parties. All the boys wear the same T-shirts and the girls walk around in groups all wearing white. The boat parties sound hilarious from the beach.
La Malagueta is the bullring which is under repair and closed. Apparently, the red cape doesn’t attract the bull. It is the large moving object that does it. Could be any colour. We were not intending to see a bullfight in case you are wondering.
At the beach there was a procession; little children ringing bells, brass bands, ladies in costume and lots of men wearing wetsuit pants carrying a statue. They put it down for a while, mingled around, had a couple of durries and then carried it into the church. It appears that this lucky lady who travels in from the sea on a flower adorned raft is, “the Virgen del Carmen” She looks after all the sailors, fishermen, scuba divers etc. all the way down the coast of Spain. Big job.
Said goodbye to Pablo and now off to Seville!
Two Travelling Bags 